Nuclear Weapons as Symbols. The Role of Norms in Nuclear Policy Making

Throughout history, nuclear weapons have been considered to be the ultimate weapons. This understanding largely detached them from the portfolio of conventional military means and assigned them a symbolic meaning that influenced the identity and norms creation of nations. In most countries today, the development of nuclear weapons is considered morally prohibitive, incompatible with a country’s identity and international outlook. In some states, however, these negative norms are overridden by a positive set of norms, causing nuclear weapons to become either symbols of invulnerability to perceived threats or the regalia of major power status. Main purpose of this paper is to explore on the conditions that cause most states to develop a moral aversion to nuclear weapons, yet effectively lead to their glorification in others. Many studies on the normative understanding of nuclear weapons consider the existence of a negative normative predisposition, often referred to as ‘nuclear taboo’, as a major factor in preventing their acquisition and use. Other studies acknowledge the existence of a nuclear taboo inhibiting the use of nuclear weapons, but point to the existence of the opposing effect of norms, frequently referred to as the ‘nuclear myth’, when it comes to the acquisition of nuclear weapons. This myth emerges when certain symbolic meanings are attached to nuclear weapons, such as a state’s identity, self-image, and its desired position in the international system. With 180 odd countries in the world abstaining from the acquisition of nuclear weapons and 8 countries in possession of them (with two further countries assumed to have pursued their acquisition), one might consider the dominance of the nuclear taboo over the nuclear myth to be the rule. The core question is thus why and how this relationship reversed in the case of defectors.

The simultaneous conjugacy problem in groups of piecewise linear functions

Guba and Sapir asked, in their joint paper [8], if the simultaneous conjugacy problem was solvable in Diagram Groups or, at least, for Thompson's group F. We give an elementary proof for the solution of the latter question. This relies purely on the description of F as the group of piecewise linear orientation-preserving homeomorphisms of the unit. The techniques we develop allow us also to solve the ordinary conjugacy problem as well, and we can compute roots and centralizers. Moreover, these techniques can be generalized to solve the same questions in larger groups of piecewise-linear homeomorphisms.

Firm dynamics support the importance of the embodied question

This paper contributes to the literature on both embodied technical progress and firm dynamics, by formulating an endogenous growth model where selection and imitation play a fundamental role in helping capital good producers to learn about the productivity of technologies embodied in new plants. By calibrating the model to some key aggregates particularly relevant for the embodied capital literature, among them the growth rate of the relative investment price, the model quantitatively replicates the main facts associated to firm dynamics, such as the entry rate and the tail index of the establishment size distribution. In line with the previous literature, it also predicts a contribution to productivity growth of embodied technical progress and selection of around 60%

L'energia solar a Cerdanyola del Vallès

Treball de recerca realitzat per alumnes d'ensenyament secundari i guardonat amb un Premi CIRIT per fomentar l'esperit cientí­fic del Jovent l'any 2009. Aquest treball intenta resoldre la qüestió de si l'energia solar arribarà a ser una energia alternativa que esdevingui un substitut del petroli en el futur. Aquest projecte informa de totes les característiques i propietats de les plaques solars, explicant els avantatges que fan que sigui un recurs energètic molt net, segur i, encara que en un principi es pugui veure car, finalment arriba a amortitzar el preu inicial fins aconseguir un estalvi monetari, que és el que atreu al màxim de compradors. El projecte parla de les característiques de les plaques solars fotovoltaiques explicant així tots els materials pels quals és formada, la seva estructura per capes i el procés de transformació de llum en electricitat. Conté, també, una part pràctica extensa i elaborada: s'ha demanat a diversos ciutadans, sobretot de Cerdanyola del Vallès i també de Barcelona, sobre el tipus de contacte que tenen amb aquesta energia renovable i si no és així, saber quin altre tipus de font energètica utilitzen. També conté una entrevista a un professional del món de l'energia solar. I, finalment, s'ha realitzat el disseny, muntatge i funcionament d'un cotxe elèctric solar.

Comprendre Enron : Individu i Resposabilitat en el cas Enron

Quan, al final de l'any 2001, els diaris de tot el món s'omplien de notícies sobre el frau financer més gran de la història, ja es preveia, en aquell moment, que Enron es convertiria en el cas paradigmàtic del que no ha de ser 'però tot sovint és' el món de les grans corporacions als Estats Units. Les línies que se segueixen aquí volen donar resposta a una pregunta que, tot i ser simple, no pot passar-nos per alt: com ha estat possible un cas Enron?

Ethics and creative accounting: Some empirical evidence on accounting for intangibles in Spain

Recent research shows that financial reports are losing relevance. Mainly thisis due to the growing strategic importance of intangible assets in theperformance of a company. A possible solution is to modify accounting standardsso that statements include more self-generated intangible assets, taking intoaccount with their inherent risk and difficulty of valuation. We surveyed loanofficers who were asked to assess the credit-worthiness of a hypotheticalcompany. The only information given was a simplified version of financialstatements. Half the group got statements where research and development costshad been capitalized. The other half got statements in which these costs hadbeen treated as an expense. The findings show that capitalization wassignificantly more likely to attract a positive response to a loan request. Thepaper raises the question of whether accounting for intangibles might providemanagers with one more creative accounting technique and, in consequence, itsethical implications.

Avaluació de revistes i avaluació de la recerca en humanitats i ciències socials a Catalunya: aproximació a un problema

The evaluation of the quality and impact of journals as a starting point to systematise the quality of research is an indirect method commonly used for obtaining information for systematic and major evaluation efforts, such as those needed for public tenders to aid projects and research groups. Nevertheless, this method runs into an important obstacle: preparing rankings of journals in the humanities and social sciences is considerably more complex than for those on experimental, biomedical or technological sciences. Cultural, linguistic and territorial components of research in the humanities and social sciences radically question the international rankings. Within this context, the article presents the experience of a study-in-progress whose intention is to evaluate the rankings of journals in the humanities and social sciences published in 1997 by the Generalitat de Catalunya. Even thought an attempt was made to bring this type of titles closer to the Catalan community of researchers, the initiative has been frequently surrounded by controversy and criticism and, at the present, does not enjoy the needed recognition of the Catalan academic sector.

Vortices and extreme black holes: The question of flux expulsion

It has been claimed that extreme black holes exhibit a phenomenon of flux expulsion for Abelian Higgs vortices, irrespective of the relative width of the vortex to the black hole. Recent work by two of the authors showed a subtlety in the treatment of the event horizon, which cast doubt on this claim. We analyze in detail the vortexextreme black hole system, showing that, while flux expulsion can occur, it does not do so in all cases. We give analytic proofs for both expulsion and penetration of flux, in each case deriving a bound for that behavior. We also present extensive numerical work backing up, and refining, these claims, and showing in detail how a vortex can end on a black hole in all situations. We also calculate the back reaction of the vortex on the geometry, and comment on the more general vortexblack hole system.

Some pneumococcal serotypes are more frequently associated with relapses of acute exacerbations in COPD patients

Objectives: To analyze the role of the capsular type in pneumococci causing relapse and reinfection episodes of acute exacerbation in COPD patients. Methods: A total of 79 patients with 116 recurrent episodes of acute exacerbations caused by S. pneumoniae were included into this study (1995–2010). A relapse episode was considered when two consecutive episodes were caused by the same strain (identical serotype and genotype); otherwise it was considered reinfection. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (microdilution), serotyping (PCR, Quellung) and molecular typing (PFGE/MLST) were performed. Results: Among 116 recurrent episodes, 81 (69.8%) were reinfections, caused by the acquisition of a new pneumococcus,and 35 (30.2%) were relapses, caused by a pre-existing strain. Four serotypes (9V, 19F, 15A and 11A) caused the majority (60.0%) of relapses. When serotypes causing relapses and reinfection were compared, only two serotypes were associatedwith relapses: 9V (OR 8.0; 95% CI, 1.34–85.59) and 19F (OR 16.1; 95% CI, 1.84–767.20). Pneumococci isolated from relapses were more resistant to antimicrobials than those isolated from the reinfection episodes: penicillin (74.3% vs. 34.6%, p,0.001), ciprofloxacin (25.7% vs. 9.9%, p,0.027), levofloxacin (22.9% vs. 7.4%, p = 0.029), and co-trimoxazole (54.3% vs. 25.9%, p,0.001). Conclusions: Although the acquisition of a new S. pneumoniae strain was the most frequent cause of recurrences, a third ofthe recurrent episodes were caused by a pre-existing strain. These relapse episodes were mainly caused by serotypes 9V and 19F, suggesting an important role for capsular type

A methodological approach to identify teacher's ICT competencies in online learning environments in Higher Education

Aquest article pretén descriure el procés metodològic d'identificació i mesurament de les competències TIC dels professors i com a formadors en les TIC en un entorn d'aprenentatge en línia en l'Educació Superior portat a terme en el marc del Projecte Europeu Elene-TLC.La revisió de la recerca en les competències en línia del professor demostra que, en primer lloc, el mètode més utilitzat per a identificar aquestes competències és el focus group. En segon lloc, la tècnica Delphi és la tècnica més utilitzada per reunir el consens d'experts sobre quines són les competències principals per al professor en línia entre els que s'indiquen.La proposta metodològica descrita en aquest document consisteix en la creació de 7 grups de discussió en línia, l'objectiu dels quals era identificar les competències formatives dels professors en línia i les dels professos en línia. La llista de competències obtingudes posteriorment es va oferir als experts europeus que participaven en l'aplicació de la tècnica Delphi. A aquests experts se'ls va demanar que ordenessin les competències d'acord amb el seu grau d'importància.Els resultats mostren que els grups de discussió en línia i el mètode Delphi són les metodologies apropiades per a identificar les competències TIC dels professors universitaris en els entorns d'aprenentatge en línia.

Analysis of meiotic recombination in 22q11.2, a region that frequently undergoes deletions and duplications

Background: The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome is the most frequent genomic disorder with an estimated frequency of 1/4000 live births. The majority of patients (90%) have the same deletion of 3 Mb (Typically Deleted Region, TDR) that results from aberrant recombination at meiosis between region specific low-copy repeats (LCRs). Methods: As a first step towards the characterization of recombination rates and breakpoints within the 22q11.2 region we have constructed a high resolution recombination breakpoint map based on pedigree analysis and a population-based historical recombination map based on LD analysis. Results: Our pedigree map allows the location of recombination breakpoints with a high resolution (potential recombination hotspots), and this approach has led to the identification of 5 breakpoint segments of 50 kb or less (8.6 kb the smallest), that coincide with historical hotspots. It has been suggested that aberrant recombination leading to deletion (and duplication) is caused by low rates of Allelic Homologous Recombination (AHR) within the affected region. However, recombination rate estimates for 22q11.2 region show that neither average recombination rates in the 22q11.2 region or within LCR22-2 (the LCR implicated in most deletions and duplications), are significantly below chromosome 22 averages. Furthermore, LCR22-2, the repeat most frequently implicated in rearrangements, is also the LCR22 with the highest levels of AHR. In addition, we find recombination events in the 22q11.2 region to cluster within families. Within this context, the same chromosome recombines twice in one family; first by AHR and in the next generation by NAHR resulting in an individual affected with the del22q11.2 syndrome. Conclusion: We show in the context of a first high resolution pedigree map of the 22q11.2 region that NAHR within LCR22 leading to duplications and deletions cannot be explained exclusively under a hypothesis of low AHR rates. In addition, we find that AHR recombination events cluster within families. If normal and aberrant recombination are mechanistically related, the fact that LCR22s undergo frequent AHR and that we find familial differences in recombination rates within the 22q11.2 region would have obvious health-related implications.

Prevalence of smoking among dentists in Catalonia - Spain (2006). Literature review of smoking cessation practices in the dental office

Objective: The objective of this study was to collect data on the prevalence of smokers among Catalonian dentists (by age and sex) and compare them with existing data on the general population, doctors, registered nurses and pharmacists. The overall prevalence of smokers in Catalonia (2006) was 34.5% of men and 24.3% of women. Data available on the prevalence of smoking among doctors (26.3% men and 22.1% women), pharmacists (19.8% men and 20.6% women) and registered nurses (34.1% men and 35.3% women) relates to the year 2002. Study design: In September 2006, Catalonian dentists (n=3,799) were asked about their habits in relation to tobacco in a self-administered questionnaire, on use and opinions with respect to dental amalgam. Five hundred and seventynine questionnaires were received, of which 538 answered the question on smoking (14.2% of the sample universe). Results: The prevalence of smokers among dentists is lower (24.9% of men and 18.4% of women) than in the general population and other healthcare professionals. In dentists in the age group between 25 and 34 years, the prevalence was 26.1% in men and 14.9% in women, while the prevalence in this age group in the general population was 43.6% and 37.1%, respectively. Conclusion: Catalonian dentists have a much lower prevalence of tobacco use than the general population and lower even than other healthcare professionals. Given that non-smoking healthcare professionals have better awareness for providing recommendations for smoking prevention and cessation, Catalonian dentists may be a valid group for performing this task for which there is scientific evidence.

Question Waves: A multicast query routing algorithm for social search

This paper describes Question Waves, an algorithm that can be applied to social search protocols, such as Asknext or Sixearch. In this model, the queries are propagated through the social network, with faster propagation through more trustable acquaintances. Question Waves uses local information to make decisions and obtain an answer ranking. With Question Waves, the answers that arrive first are the most likely to be relevant, and we computed the correlation of answer relevance with the order of arrival to demonstrate this result. We obtained correlations equivalent to the heuristics that use global knowledge, such as profile similarity among users or the expertise value of an agent. Because Question Waves is compatible with the social search protocol Asknext, it is possible to stop a search when enough relevant answers have been found; additionally, stopping the search early only introduces a minimal risk of not obtaining the best possible answer. Furthermore, Question Waves does not require a re-ranking algorithm because the results arrive sorted

The state's response to the Catalan question : an emerging ethnic component in contemporary Spanish nationalism?

Peer-reviewed